I can't escape it anymore. I have to go shopping. Deliberately. Not in the 'oh, hey, there's an Old Navy next door!' sense or the 'Well, I'm in Target anyway, let's peruse the women's section.' In the, I need to go to a mall on a weekend (NOOO!!) or a weeknight and buy stuff. Like winter work pants, since I currently have 3 pairs that fit (and several pairs that may fit in a month or so, but I don't want to bank on that), workout pants (I'm finding two pairs are not enough, weirdly) and a strapless bra. Possibly also silver flats for the swanky event a week from Monday, or other work shoes not made of plastic.

Money's tight as always, and I just made a dentist appointment (and they can fit me in tomorrow. Weird. But they got a rec on LJ and positive yelp reviews) and I have a feeling I've got a fairly big cavity... though I do have the FHSA for that. I forgot! Wow! Regardless, it'll probably still suck. And I keep meaning to get new glasses. Maybe I'll just go on a shopping spree on Saturday while stentoriansista goes and saves democracy by stumping for Obama-llama. (I would, but... I talk to people enough during the day. I really don't want to bug them at home)

ETA: Well, crap, last time I went to the eye doc was '07! Guess if I want new glasses, I need to make an eye appointment.

Oh my gods, y'all, talk me down off the ledge. I've got an immersion blender and a jar grabber in my shopping cart at amazon and I'm about to hit check out.

ETA: It turns out I ordered it when I thought I had a confirmation page. And while I could cancel that order... I'm taking it as a sign. Ooh, new shinies!

Friday was an insanely busy work day with a lot of cake, followed by Old Crow Medicine Show with stentoriansista, prettyprincessb and mareska. Having had very little contact with the band, I must say I had a good time! We went to The Red Derby (otherwise known as the awesomest bar ever) and had really tasty sweet potato fries while kind of watching some weird ass movie. I'm toying with going there to watch at least one of the presidential debates (I'm much less likely to cause property damage while watching them if it's someone else's property).

Saturday, we went out to take advantage of the Old Navy friends sale - y'all, clothes shopping is so painful right now, I can't even describe. I did get a work shirt, sports bra and sleepy shorts for cheap, but ooh, it hurt. Then off to work to work a gala. Had some slight wardrobe malfunctions with my swanky dress and I hadn't brought a wrap, which... OMG NEVER AGAIN. It was so cold inside I spent the entire time shivering. I must say, this swanky party wasn't nearly as much fun as previous swanky parties at my last job, but on the other hand, this wasn't the kind of event where I could hang out and booze it up with the rest of the staff afterwards. Came home, watched Volver, which has been with us from Netflix since probably February and went to bed way too late.

Slept in Sunday, rode Ernest the bike over to City Bikes to get them to fix the joints they loosened when they tuned up the bike (took 5 minutes, was pleasantly surprised), then biked with Girlio over to Meridian Hill Park where we lay out on a blanket and read in the sunlight for a few hours (and got eaten alive by the bugs, BTW). It was seriously wonderful just to lay there in the sun, hear the drum circle and enjoy my book. Biked down to Gallery Place, got a salad from Chopp't (OMG, the new Harvest Cobb is AWESOME - spinach, chicken, apples, beets, walnuts and goat cheese! I could not love that more) and saw one of the strangest movies I have ever seen. Debated sneaking into The Women, but it was late, so we headed home. Spent half an hour trying to remember how to fold up my bike but finally got that put away. I love my bike, Ernest. He's good people. The seat is a little wobbly and my patootie is sore today, but I think I'm going to start taking him to work soon. Before it gets too cold, anyway.

So, a good weekend, except that I didn't get any cooking done. stentoriansista made applesauce on Saturday (OMG, SO GOOD) and my immersion blender died trying to blend it (I've been leaving it in the sink and I think some water must have shorted out the motor). It was $5 at Goodwill and lasted me a good 4 months, so I can let it go fairly easily. But I definitely need another. And not covet, the way I've been coveting a breadmaker and a 4 cup cuisinart. If I don't get another one, there may be blood. I may actually stop by Target on the way home from work to see if they have a cheap one. But I think I'll make regular bread and apple bread tonight and prep a stew to crock while I'm at work tomorrow. I really want to make a black bean, sweet potato and chicken soup. I also really want to carmelize some onions in the crock pot. And make more apple sauce. The 6 quart crockpot full of apple sauce still left us with 1/2 a bag of apples from the apple picking over Labor Day. I figure one more batch will get rid of 'em and I'll grab some 1 cup tupperwares and freeze them to sub in for oil in recipes.

So, really, I want to make 5 dishes tonight. And clean. And go to the gym. And watch Heroes. Also, we desperately need to do laundry. Can I get another day off?

I forgot to mention... with my tummy being punky on Friday, I ate several Pepto Bismol tablets. I woke up Saturday morning to... a black tongue. It's one of the side effects of Pepto Bismol chewables, but it definitely freaked me out first thing in the moring, like... did I have a lot of grape popsicles?! And all I could think about was that story of the poison on the edge of the Bible where the guy licks his finger to turn the page and then his tongue turns black and he dies and people stick out their tongues as a greeting to make sure that the person they're meeting is honorable. (Which I had been told was a folk legend in elementary school but is apparently in the plot of In the Name of the Rose?!) anneball thought I was a Chow Chow and stentoriansista thought I was a giraffe, so clearly I'm just weird that way.

Saturday night I fell asleep on the couch while watching Degrassi. I don't know which is worse. Crawled into bed to have one of the worst night's sleep I've had in a long time. I probably woke up 6 times between 12:30 and 6:30, at which point the cat realized I was awake and started meowing at me to come feed her (the cat is very sweet and very talkative when she wants something. Like food), so I stumbled out of bed and did and went back to sleep where I slept fitfully... until 8am. When someone nearby started hammering. And then they stopped. And then they started again. And then they stopped. And then they started what I originally thought was a chop saw but then later decided was an electric leaf blower. And then they stopped. And then they started again. And then they stopped. And then they started again. At which point I was seriously considering yelling out the window and telling them to shut the fuck up but I decided that wasn't polite, so I went back to the couch on the other side of the house to sleep (where I could still hear the leaf blower, but it was quieter) and continued to have really fitful sleep until noon. It was the kind of thing where you go to sleep and you have a bunch of dreams that feel really long and you wake up and it's 10 minutes later? Yeah, it sucked. Dragged myself out of bed, got some food in me and headed to the Uptown to see The Dark Knight with anneball and a friend. I got there wicked early and got in line at 2:30 for a 3:30 show... and was not the first person in line. (anneball, I will repay you for the ticket, I just didn't have any cash on me) We got kickin' seats and the movie was very, very good. I agree with the reviews... it's really not Batman's story, it's Harvey Dent's story and it's the Joker's story... both characters were much more interesting and dynamic than Batman's, who just stands around being conflicted.

The movie ended and it was 6:20 and there was a line down the street to Four Fields to get into the 7:05 show. Went to anneball's apartment to steal books and then I left 20 mintues later, the line was to the corner, around it and then up the street. For a 7pm show on a Sunday. Crazy.

Back at the cat-sitting house, the TV wouldn't turn on (...), so I sat and read on of the books I got while I listened to the people next door have a screaming fight for 45 minutes. At first I thought it was their television or people on the street, but I definitely put my ear to the wall like Nosey McNosersons and yep, this woman was full on screaming (at who? I have no idea). Took a bath, went to bed, left the house this morning and the owners should return tonight. All good in the hood.

Schwinn won't pay for labor to fix the crank and I'm sure as hell not going to, so it looks like the bike is going back to Amazon. I was actually really peeved when I went to City Bikes and found that they had two folding bikes after all. I guess when I get my prepaid return label and ship it back to Amazon, I'll have to go give the two folding bikes they have there a try. (That will make me feel better because I'll support my local bike store and get me some free service at the same time!) And if I don't like those, I might actually call Spokes Etc... instead of just checking their website. Hrm... now I have to figure out what to do with my b-day present from pucksraven and co (thanks again y'all!), since that got applied to the bike (which was also a present to stentoriansista since we could have gone on bike rides together... if said bike had actually worked properly. Bitches)

Also... the book I read last night? I am so embarrassed to admit it, but... Twilight. OMFG. OMFG. I just... wow. Y'all? ( Minor Spoilers. )

I cannot cannot cannot cannot canNOT spend $160 on the most adorable flats I've ever seen shoes.

Especially since they don't come in wide widths. Or my size.

It never ceases to amaze me what I can do by asking people. For example, I wanted a couple of pillow shams. I found them at bedbathandbeyond.com. I went to BB&B and they did not have them yesterday. I was miffed. I printed out the webpage, went back and asked an employee if they had them. They did not. They ordered them for me. I asked if I had to pay shipping. They waived shipping fees. I asked if I could use my $5 of $15 coupon if I bought a soda (total was $14.98 w/ tax). I bought the stuff & my soda and then they refunded $5 back to my card. I'm getting the shams delivered in two weeks. I rule. My pillows, however, will continue to be naked for a little while.

I am so freaking stupid tonight and I have a general contempt for humanity. Also, callers are assholes tonight. And my room is really messy. And my TV isn't getting reception for non-cable channels, so I CAN'T WATCH HEROES.

I mean, I could. But I'd have to go downstairs and I'm working and new!Roommate has people over, so that'd be pretty rude and they totally think I'm an anti-social troll. Or something. Whatever.

I have a shiny new duvet cover. stentoriansista talked me into buying it in Duck. It wasn't hard. It went something like "I want to get this." "OK." "But I can't." "Why?" "It's too expensive." "Whatever. Buy it." "OK." It has birdies in trees on the front and apples on the back. I'm going to pick up some pillow shams from BB&B tomorrow and then I shall have the cutest bed in all the land!

It doesn't go with my awesome creepy art I got at Crafty Bastards, but I like being hard to define like that.

Dear Dancing with the Stars,

You should not do a quickstep to "Signed, Sealed, Delivered." Stop making Stevie Wonder cry inside. Well, he's probably not, but if he could say what y'all are doing to it, he might.

No love,
Christina

It has occurred to me that the sleeping bag (not mine) that I said I'd bring to the Becoming retreat this weekend is MIA. It also occurs to me that I might want a sleeping bag for future camping endeavors. It also also occurs to me that I just got my catsitting payment. Yes. I may buy a $30 sleeping bag in the near future. I figure I don't need one for subzero temperature ratings since I don't plan on going camping in the freezing, freezing cold.

It has also occurred to me that if I got a freaking driver's license already (srsly ppl), I wouldn't have to be dependent on others for camping-ness. Going this weekend reminded me how much I enjoyed it and that it would be nice to go by myself or with others, but I can't really go by myself these days. I mean, I could, but it would require taking a tent, sleeping bag, food, equipment, etc... on the metro and then walking to that Greenbelt park. Hah. If I got better at or even practiced parking, I'd feel confident at going out and getting a license tomorrow, though less confident about actually using it. But I could still join the Dark Side get a ZipCar membership in a year. Blah blah blah pretty pretty over-privileged princess.

In other news, pork chops + Newman's Own Mango Salsa = love. Even if I overcooked them.

So, I returned the shoes to Payless and then went to my arch nemesis, H&M. I actually found a cute dress that might be too tight and might make me look like a tablecloth, but was $15, so I bought it. Now I think I need to make myself another boobholder in black to go with it. If I decide to keep it. Which I still am. Deciding, that is.

I've also managed to almost completely kill the gerbera daisies I got as a thank you for the benefit two weeks ago. I don't know why. My coworker's daisies are thriving. Mine are dead. People don't believe me when I say I kill plants. The last time they looked sad, I watered them and they were better in an hour or two. This time, I dumped a bunch of water in and now they look worse. Maybe they need a bigger pot? I'm taking them home to natural light tomorrow. Hang on, daisies!

The shoes I bought at payless last month - the most expensive, comfy athletic shoe that I bought there ($25! ZOMG!)... part of the sole is coming off. I haven't even scuffed these up yet and part of the sole is coming off.

I'm debating whether I should outright return them or exchange them for a new pair. They are supercute and comfy. But this doesn't seem worth it.

And here I thought that since they were the most expensive shoes, they'd be of better quality.

ETA: Holy crap, that was two weeks ago. Now I'm officially annoyed.

I got a $25 gift card to payless shoes as a point redemption for one of my various survey companies. It's been burning a hole in my pocket for a couple of weeks now, so I went over on my lunch break and bought a pair of sandals and two pairs of sneakers for $25 after using the card. I may return the $25 pair of sneakers. They're cute, but I don't think they have the right arch support. I've gotta wear them around the house a bit to be sure. They're the same brand as my almost dead 3 month old shoes, but these are wides and not regular width, which I think will be much better in the long run in the wear and tear. I wish I wasn't so hard on shoes. I also wish that every time I bought cute shoes from payless, they didn't end up being evil monstrosities that give me blisters every time I wear them. I'm looking at you, faux patent leather mary jane wedges! I'm also sure that stentoriansista will hate on all of the shoes because she is not a fan of my taste in shoes. Ah well. She'll live.

I am SO EXCITED about having tomorrow off, even though I'm not really doing anything exciting. It'll be a nice cave time day and I'm going to do things like make sure I'll spend next week not eating nachos for dinner. Which, don't get me wrong, I love the nachos, but it's getting a scoch old.

Other than that, you know, things are thinging. I've been angsting a little because it's starting to be summer and I want to go out and do things and I don't have the money and don't ever see my friends or have enough friends and everyone picks me last at kickball or whatever. It's a little sad that the people I claim to care about the most, well... I mostly talk to y'all through here (and whose fault is that? mine. Stupid introverted tendencies).

Zumba tonight was packed - like 20 people in a room that comfortably holds 8. Still good. Getting dressed for class, I realized that my favorite blue sneakers are just about a week or two away from giving out completely at the bottom. I bought them from Payless for $20 three months ago. I'm guessing it's time to go back to Lady Footlocker, because when I buy my sketchers from them for $50, they last for 6 months, they kinda break even. Or maybe I just need to buy more shoes and rotate wearing them.

Holy crap, I'm becoming a girl.

I just made dinner and I realized that I now have two half full bags of cheese, three diet cokes, a pitcher of juice and a half full bottle of vodka sauce I want to get rid of because it tasted awful to me in my fridge. And that's it. Sure, I've got dry goods and food in the freezer and MANGOS, but dayum. I gots no food.

My plan for the remainder of the week is yoga tomorrow, Thursday ???, Friday off (sweet sweet comp time) and I'm going to clean, do a full grocery shop, cook a freezable meal & freeze it, cook another set of meals, go to Art-O-Matic to watch jaaron firedance, Saturday I'm going to go shoe shopping, maybe wander around Old Town or the C&O path, probably make some cookies or something, Sunday is SHEEP & WOOL and I'm not going to spend that much money. No more than $50. Really.

In theory, I should make lunch for stentoriansista this week. In practice, I don't know when that's gonna happen. My boss is having farewell pizza tomorrow and then we're meeting up for yoga and I kinda doubt I'm going home after that. I could bring food up on Friday, but I was originally scheduled to cook her dinner. Plus, metroing to Union Station would mean I'd have to get up before noon on my recovery day off.

I'm loving this weather right now, even if the pollen wreaks havoc on my sinuses.

Off to decide on recipes. This month's cooking light had a section of freezable recipes. Oh yes. Now, if only they'll do a slowcooker/freezable combo. That'd be heaven.

Coming in to work today, I slipped and fell on some black ice. In the middle of an intersection. I landed on my knee. It was one of those where I got up, got out of the road and then took a minute to see if I was gonna cry (I didn't). Coming soon to my right kneecap... a FREAKING HUGE BRUISE!!!

Let's see, weekend recap... Thursday, I went home after work to work on the GF's valentine's present (otherwise known as the Thinggummer's Thing), which I completed. Hooray! No one has fawned over the entry I made on stitch-witch, so I post it for you here:
( Read more... )
Isn't he cute?! I'm totally in love with the finished product. Went to the doctor on Friday, which was a giant game of "what will insurance cover?" My last physical was 10 months ago, so insurance might not cover that! I wanted to get something checked in my bloodwork, but insurance might not cover that! How about checking my iron count, because stentoriansista thinks I'm anemic? Insurance won't cover that either! (They'll check my platelet levels which is the same thing? I guess?). Stopped at Whole Foods and picked up the bare minimum of groceries, went home, ate lunch and then CLEANED LIKE THERE WAS NO TOMORROW. I vacuumed. I changed my sheets. I dusted. I filed financial papers. I did my taxes. All of that good stuff. (By the way, it's really disturbing to dust your room on Friday and realize on Sunday night that there's already a fine layer of dust on everything) I spun a little yarn which is being extremely problematic and too airy, so the spinning wheel may go away soon.

Headed over to stentoriansista's, where we had lentil-y food and swapped belated valentines. I gave her Ned (the owl above) and she gave me a lovely clutch purse and her old iPod (squeeee!!!!!) and an iPod holder that she'd embroidered a skull & crossbones on (double squeee!!!!!). Watched Bubba Hotep (AWESOME!).

Saturday was kind of lazy - stentoriansista had to go to Ballston for work-things, so we went and hung out at murky coffee- she did school reading and I read magazines. Wandered over to IKEA, where she got awardrobe, I got a TV stand and mel21clc got as-is Christmas lights. Went to some Italian place for dinner and made an early night of it.

So, now I'm sitting here at work with my sore knee, watching everyone in creation come in, despite the fact that it is Presidents Day and everybody in the office aside from me has the day off. Whatever, losers.

Mmm, weekend. Come back weekend, I miss you!

Friday, I roused myself super early (10am), went grocery shopping and went home, where I started yet another load of laundry and started cooking lunch (Fiesta Chili Mac stuff... not fantastic, but still edible). Put it in the oven, started making bread, took the casserole out of the oven, finished kneading the dough, left it in the (much cooler now) oven to rise and started eating lunch. Finished lunch and the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (AWESOME! Did you know there's a movie? NETFLIX AHOY!) and then started cleaning my room like there was no tomorrow. Didn't actually clean up the entire mess, but I made an extremely significant dent. Made (and burned) some granola, fixed my jean skirt so it doesn't poof to hell in the back, washed some sweaters (!!!) and attempted to make a jean skirt out of another pair of jeans, but it's doing the weird sticky-out thing instead of giving it a good A-line shape. Maybe I should split the sides and try that like this tutorial Otherwise, I'm getting a real fugly tapered shape and I'm not okay with that. Ran over to stentoriansista and hung out with her, her dad and mel21clc and got REAL drunk. Oops.

Saturday, I regained consciousness around 11 and hung out. We watched some Heroes and then ran out to Silver Spring. Bought some skull shoes at Payless and then drove up to Baltimore to go to The Book Thing. On the way, we passed this repair van. As we passed, I noticed the driver was reading a catalog and said so. stentoriansista and mel21clc had to see this for themselves, so we slowed down and I realized that the driver was not looking at a catalog, but PORN. Naked ladies. While driving. I said so and again, stentoriansista and mel21clc had to see for themselves, so we slowed down for another cruise by, both to see the porn and to get his license plate number. Because we called both his employer and the cops on his porn reading ass. (Not that I have anything again porn. I like porn. But not while operating a motor vehicle on a busy interstate)

Book Thing was awesome - I escaped with only 6 new books, including one on applique, so I can fix the giant hole in that cute cashmere sweater I ganked from westerly at a clothes swap a while ago. Then we all kind of dropped dead from grumpy, so we had dinner, which made me drop dead from ZOMG INTESTINAL DISTRESS. Maybe I'm lactose intolerant. We breezed through Target, where I still couldn't find the stupid butcher block oil, but I got a pour top for my olive oil bottle, so that's good - I can stop saving all of my corks in the hopes that one will fit.

Anyway, now I'm at work and things are thinging and you know. Whatever.

Still haven't started the GF's Valentine's present yet. Because I am lame and need felt. This gift will not be received by Valentines. Alas.

Had Fogo de Chao for lunch for restaurant week lunch and still haven't recovered. Of course, the two hour nap I took probably didn't help. I should have dinner at some point, but I probably won't.

The dentist, once I actually got in, was really good. It's so refreshing to have a doctor that actually listens to you, instead of talking over you. stentoriansista says I have a crush on him, but really, I have a crush on their office - they started out with an hour long initial exam, full x-rays and a cleaning. When I got my diagnosis, they actually printed out a course of treatment for me and including a price estimate (which for the crown & two cavities will cost less than the crown I got from the last guys). It's just refreshing to deal with people who aren't trying to upsell you, you know? I'm getting a cavity and a crown taken care of in mid-February and I'm so taking a sick day when that happens.

Took the bus (for a total of 4 times today) to the bridal store where I tried on the altered bridesmaid dress, which was made so tight that I couldn't actually zip it up on my own. They're letting it out for me and I'll pick it up next week before I jet set outta here.

After lunch, the Girl & I wandered over to H&M, where I found a really pretty wrap dress... that I made her buy. And I shall borrow it. Because it looked awesome on her too and she's more likely to wear dresses. But I'm gonna wear it to the rehearsal dinner. Got my hair cut at Bubbles - not sure if I like it, but it'll do. Sent the girlfriend home. I've been kind of wanting a lazy night off to do nothing, which I now have.

OK, I've gotta clean and I've gotta potentially make a potroast. And dinner. And brownies. And clean. Ugh. Clean.

PS - Wil Wheaton, I love you SO MUCH for this entry.

Ah yes, another bored Sunday.

But it's been a week. I've been negotiating the time difference, insomnia, getting back to work, tummy woes and getting stentoriansista out to California with me. Not to mention yesterday, stentoriansista, mel21clc and I went a-shopping. We took mel21clc to David's Bridal to get her a bridesmaid dress where she dealt with a whole bunch of rude associates and had to call Pennsylvania to get her dress. Pennsylvania was far more pleasant than Springfield, thank goodness.

Then we went off to Costco where I got a sewing machine!!! I got this Brother machine and it looks like Amazon has it for $30 less than it was onsale at Costco with free shipping. Huh. I'm going to doublecheck model when I get home, but seriously, we are not amused, even if I'm not actually paying for it. I also got my usual 6 pounds of pork, giant bag of craisins, shampoo & conditioner, etc... I did refrain from getting my giant wheel o' brie. Ran to Pentagon City to Gap, Sephora and Williams-Sonoma where I got some nifty cooling racks and a roasting cookbook. One of these days I'm going to buy myself a roasting pan with a rack. Until then, I'll continue my precarious pan w/ chicken on a cookie rack arrangement. Hasn't given me problems so far.

Friday, I attempted three recipes from Simpler the Better... and only one was really successful. I tried grilled steak fajitas, which gave a salsa recipe that had waaay too much tomato and not enough avacado seasoning. Plus the tortillas weren't as hot as they should have been and the steak was too chewy and not in small enough chunks. I also make a garlic parmesan corn side dish, which had way too much cream - I don't think I boiled it long enough. The winner of the night was the white chocolate mousse, which was great except that I forgot I don't like white chocolate mousse that much. I'd put them in wine glasses for pretty presentation, but the best fit were my ginormous glasses, which had 4 servings of mousse in two containers. Too much. But I really like this cookbook, as it's not a lot of ingredients and looks like good, easy food.

Then ran out and saw Dreamgirls which was seriously fantastic. I enjoyed all of it and for Buffy fans, the demon in "Once More With Feeling" is in this. He doesn't sing and dance, but he's definitely in it.

I have to figure out where and what to spend my borders card on. I'm definitely going to get my hypnosis book and maybe I'll grab a DVD or something with the rest. Trying to figure out if I should splurge on a couple of books I know I want or wait until they're in paperback. Anyway, now I'm just hanging out at work, listending to Pandora and waiting for it to be 6 so I can go home and do laundry and get ready for tomorrow's clothes swap. Swapping! Of the clothing! So I can get wearable things!

Ugh, this week is going to be busy busy busy.

KANGAROOOOOOO!

Why you should never peak at presents

Speaking of presents, I'm 95% done with my shopping. Only the knitting remains. And I can't decide if I need/want to get presents for my roommates. I did last year ($6 things off of silverjewelryclub.com), but I'm feeling very meh about it right now. Same for my aunt & uncle in Hawaii that I never talk to.

Can I have a ladle of pugg glogg please?

The yellow line is extending to Fort Totten! Can I tell you how happy I will be not to have to transfer trains to visit stentoriansista?

Went to Tyson's Corner yesterday, which is ridiculously scary. First, I stopped in CVS for some cold medication and got one of those 'could be made into meth' decongestants. Y'all, your tax dollars at work. I handed it in at the front counter and the guy ringing me up got my name, my ID, the per milligram amount of the medication, filled it all out in a logbook and made me sign my name. Since he was old and not the brightest, it took 8 minutes to get $4.50 worth of drugs. Ran through Old Navy and managed to escape without buying anything (VICTORY!), but I did find, covet and have already asked my parents for this dress which is gorgeous and awesome and I want to pet it and love it and name it Harriet. I also found a great pair of jeans at Gap which totally gave me puppy dog eyes and wanted to come be my new favoritest thing, but they were $60, and so we bid farewell. H&M set me back with a really spiffy corduroy blazer, and the real goal of the trip, spending $75 worth of Bloomingdale gift cards, was quashed when I realized that nothing in Bloomingdales costs less than $500. Did find a super awesome pair of jeans with studded skulls (SKULLS) on the butt pockets, but they didn't fit right. I guess I'll hit the post-Giftmas sale-travaganza when I'm home and see if I can find something there that won't cost me my life savings post-giftcards. Plans to watch Stranger than Fiction were deader than Steve Irwin (not funny yet?) when stentoriansista and I got out of H&M dressing rooms 20 minutes after the showtime. Whoops.

I spent 4 hours in meetings in work today, and had two cups of coffee on decongestants. I'm a rockstar.

So, had a lazy couple of days. Got my stitch taken out on Monday and y'all, it pains me that I had to have a $10 copay to get it taken out. I could have taken a pair of nail scissors, snipped the excess and pulled it out myself. OK, yes, I don't know what it would have done if it had started bleeding again or whatever. And according to the doc, the thread could have not come out completely. And it's best that a doctor did it. But whatever.

After that, came home, cleaned, watched half of House of Sand and Fog and then stentoriansista came over. We went grocery shopping and on the way back, I managed to drop and break the bottle of wine I bought to bring over to sabekkas'. Alas. Then we ran off to anneball's farewell at Chef Geoff's, where it took us an hour to get a table at the happy hour section so we could get our $5 burgers. I'm going to miss that anneball - she manages to bring the crazy work stories that top mel21clc's. Or mine. And then, of course, Heroes (SPOILERS) and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (MORE SPOILERS) which were predictable. I have to agree with TWoP, Studio 60 is somewhat disappointing and weirdly about religion.

Today, I slept until the crack of noon and stentoriansista and I did some thrifting, cleaned out a closet, repossessed a ladder and hung a light. I got a turkey baster (no jokes), a T-shirt to operate on and a nifty new telephone for my landline, so we don't have to use the wireless thing that is constantly falling apart in the kitchen. We went to Leading Ladies at the National, which was badly written and hokey enough that we left during intermission and headed home. Which is where I am. Freezing my butt off.

Watching the last half of House of Sand and Fog, which OH THE HUMANITY. OK, yes, fine, it's a good movie about how good people can do bad acts. BUT OH MY GOD THE HUMANITY AND THE ANGST AND THE FOG MAKE IT STOP.

Anyway, bed now. 12 hour day tomorrow, then I'm making pies, then I'm getting drunk and eating turkey.

Linkspam:
Krispy Kreme + Science = Awesome

SFW Roleplay - Political AND Funny!

Christmas trees are Pagan - which is fodder for a whole entry I have in my head about "the war on Christmas"

FYI for Pagans in the military - The Order of the Phoenix Pentacle - Basically compiling a list of pagan vets, spouses of vets, etc... as a way to show the VA that this is an issue that needs to be addressed. I don't know any pagan vets, but I know some of y'all do.

I want to buy myself crap. I have no money to do so, but if I suddenly came into $500-$750, this is how I'd spend it.
sewing machine - girl can dream, right?
suit - a nice suit. Like from Ann Taylor Loft or Hecht's. In reality, it'll probably be from Ross or Marshalls.
jeans - None of my jeans fit right. None of them.
work tops - not button ups, not striped, not longsleeved. Some kind of nicer t-shirt/shell sweater. Possibly knit.
work shoes - Mary Jane types that don't kill my feet or eat my socks - my $13 target sneakers (which I love, don't get me wrong) are white and I feel too conspicuous wearing them at work.
artwork - all the walls are bare at home.
20"-24" wide TV - I know, I know, I have a perfectly good TV. But I'd like to have one for my living room to be able to have people over to watch a movie. Because having a couple people sitting on my bed to watch a 13" television? Lame.
stuff - I bought a set of shelves and have nothing on them. That should change. What I'd really like to do is load up on stuff that I have in boxes at my parents' house in California and bring it over.
iron - yep.

And then I'd buy booze with the leftovers.

Yarr!!

There was a lot of drinking last night. As a result, today I went grocery shopping, made granola, have chili crocking and am unable to do much else. Ordered a pizza for dinner and am going to zonk out for the rest of the night. Talked with my mom which made me feel worse about my life (this is new, I can usually count on my mom to be an unwavering rock of support).

I'm bored. I'm desperate need of a pretty major overhaul for my wardrobe. I want to get one suit (just in case), jeans that aren't too big/too small/full of holes, and some more work appropriate tops that aren't long sleeves. I also want a new/better light weather jacket (maybe I can knit that?), an iron, a sewing machine, better work shoes, a window or two, blah blah blah I hate being poor.

If you want my undying love and affection, you'd make me a silk monkey, too. I'm just saying.

The thrift store on King Street (Look Again? Maybe?) had a Dirt Devil vacuum on sale for $20, a copper tea kettle on sale for $9.50. Best Buy has a 20" TV for $90.

I need to buy another messanger bag before London/before I wear mine out completely. So shoulda bought the disney one. Stupid cheapness.

It's very odd when you're so bored on Sunday that you're looking through newspaper ads and the head of the company catches you and doesn't say anything.

I am very distressed at the lack of coupons in this weekend's paper. I guess it's because of all the sales?

Some days, life just makes you antsy.

So, The Little Brother is visiting, and let me tell you, we get along so much better than the Older Brother. We actually talk. It's nice. He's apparently seeing a girl (!) who lives in Conencticut when not schooling in LA. We roasted a chicken last night and it was delightful. Like, the fantasticist thing ever. We were wandering around Old Town and walking past Whole Foods and I asked him if there was anything he wanted and he'd never been to a Whole Foods, so we wandered through and got a chicken. Being Whole Foods, a 4 pounder was $9, and it was organic and everything. But the chicken came out juicy and delightful and tasted a lot better than the one from Giant, even if the Giant chicken was $5 for a 5 pounder. Stephen Colbert gives organic chicken and my improved carving skills a thumbs up.

I took him to his first bar (the Big Hunt in DuPont) on Friday and yesterday we went up to Adam's Morgan and sat at the Columbia Lounge, listened to a nice jazz band, played count the bachelorette parties (7) and got Maggie Moo's before visiting Kramer Books at 12:30. We've also seen Thank You For Smoking (3 out of 4 stars) and X-Men III (2.5 out of 4 stars simply because of too many character deaths). Strangely, both featured Cameron Bright, who seems to be getting himself quite the child acting career. Someone's going to end up on VH1 if they're not careful.

We've also done the Smithsonian crawl a bit - Natural Science, American History & American Indian (Brother did more when I worked on Thursday). Sadly, the muppet exhibit at the American History Smithsonian is two display cases - one with Dark Crystal puppets, one some otters. Maybe it's under construction, but I was really hoping for a multi-room puppet exhibit, like they had for the polio one. Muppets > polio, except that muppets probably won't kill you. Probably.

On Friday, we got to the movie theater at 5:45 and found that the next show was at 6:45. So, we had time to kill and wandered about. There's an Urban Outfitters up the street, so I made him wander through. And OMG all my money farewell. First, they have the Papasan chairs on sale for $80, which a few frames in the sale section stickered at $50 with a "Take an Additional 50% off!" sign. Which means I could get a NEW papasan chair for $50 or less. (cuidado_llamas, before you disapprove, I sat in it for a while and found that it was good for my back and I could conceivably curl up and knit in it) We're ignoring the logic that says that there's no good way to get a chair & gigantoriffic cushion from Northwest DC to Alexandria without a car. I suppose I could rig something up with my pushcart-donkey, but it'd be a stretch. I mean, I suppose I could carry the cushion under one arm and the box under another and then take a cab from the metro or something. But still, it'd be a stretch. They also have great throw rugs and some cool 3 frame hangy things that look spiffy. I've been wanting to put stuff on my empty, empty walls. It just means I'd actually have to find 3 3x5 pictures. And spend another $100 total. Who needs food when you can have a stylish pad, baby?

Ooh! Ooh! I totally have a plan now! If I buy it today, the little brother can carry one home and I'll take the other! I'm a genius!

Continuing the trend of ooh! shiny!, we wandered around Old Town yesterday, in the ridiculously humid heat. (And it wasn't even that bad people! July? That'll be TERRIBLE) And I managed to find a (neon pink) gym bag at a thrift store for $5, a copy of Summer 2006 Interweave Knits, and a pair of sunglasses that actually fits my face. How the brother felt about being dragged into a thrift store, Knit Happens & Ross? Not thrilled. But if Mom was there, we'd've visited every antique store on King Street. And that's a lot. Also found the world's narrowest house. 11' across. (They're called spite houses and were made to fill alleys to spite people driving through there) Took an afternoon off to recuperate from the heat exhaustion and make food, saw some improv (awesome as always) and things have been good.

My hips and my back have been killing me super dead lately. Maybe it's because I've been walking for several hours a day. Perhaps.

Anyway, I think it's time to start on the paper.

So, we went to the land of evil, Wal-Mart. I found the TV I wanted, debated while goingdriftless got garden stuff, decided yes, yes I did want the TV and marched over to the electronics section only to find.... that what was on the shelves was what they had. Two 13" TVs and some gigantor television that is bigger than my closet. We were not amused. Debated buying a super cute tinkerbell purse, but decided against it. Kinda wish I had now, but at least it's $13 I didn't spend. So, in the end, I bought hangars and spaghetti sauce. And now my soul is irrevocably tainted.

And now it's nearly 10 and I haven't had dinner and I was going to make paskgetti but no, so I ordered pizza and it'll be here at 10 or a little after.

Which is too late to have dinner, but oh well. At least now I have food for the next few days.